Share cheek

US firm tells OAP he’s due £51k.. but only if he pays £4k up front

Douglas Beattie thought his luck was in when he received a call to say he was due a £51,000 windfall.

Glenhaven Consulting Group insisted it had a buyer lined up for 4800 shares he’d been awarded via a workplace scheme.

But Douglas was certain he’d off loaded the shares years beforehand – then Glenhaven said it couldn’t proceed without out £ 4333 up front from him for an “insurance bond” deposit.

Douglas, 71, said: “I want to warn others. I did have shares so there was some truth in what they were saying but I’d sold them all to give my son a deposit for a house years ago. Yet Glenhaven’s legal department kept insisting I was a shareholder and was due the money. They were persistent and convincing.”

The former compositor started to receive calls from Glenhaven, based in New York, last month.

Douglas, of Hamilton, said: “They said they were representing a client who was looking to mount a hostile takeover of the firm I’d had shares in. I told them I thought I’d sold my shares but they kept insisting I was still registered. I had my doubts but they said the shares were worth between £5 and £13 each.

“It didn’t matter that I didn’t have the certificates any more either as these weren’t needed.”

Glenhaven sent a sale and purchase agreement by email and said it required an immediate response.

Douglas said: “They phoned to try to hurry me along, saying only the first 51 percent of shareholders who replied would be accepted. To proceed, I ’ d have to pay £ 4332 up front.

“But there was no risk as I’d get the money back along with the £ 51,000. The calls stopped when I said I wouldn’t do this.”

I soon discovered Glenhaven is not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, the body which regulates the financial services industry in the UK. It is likely to have gleaned Douglas’s detai ls f rom publ i c ly ava i labl e shareholder lists.

And there are warnings online from other people who have been targeted.

Officials at the Better Business Bureau (BBB) in New York, who field complaints about firms, said Glenhaven’s given address appeared to be an apartment block.

Katherine Hutt, of the BBB, said: “This has all the hallmarks of a scam – mysterious funds, a request for an advanced fee, an uncertain office location and high-pressure calls.”

Glenhaven did not return calls or respond to emails.

The FCA said even seasoned investors had been caught out by share and bond scams.